Spring knitting needle



Oct, 25, 1932. B. H'ERTAN 1,885,097

SPRING KNITTING NEEDLE Filed Aug. 1, 1931 INVENTOR fierlzardfii rialzATTORNEY Patented Oct. 25, 1932 UNITE STATES, PATENT oFFicE.

BERNARD HERTAN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T FRED E. HERTAN, OFv

' KEW GARDENS, NEW YORK SPRING KNITTING NEEDLE This invention relates tospring knitting needles, particularly of the class used on cy-'lindrical knitting machines,one of the objects being to prevent theformation of nonuniform stitches and to enable the constant,

and continuous production of a smooth cloth with even courses.

Another object of my invention is to provide against the abrading andbreaking of the thread during the process of knitting.

A further object of my invention is to prolong the useful life of springneedles used on knitting machines, and to enable them to maintain theirnormal shapes and forms.

Other objects, features and advantages will appear from the drawing andthe description hereinafter given.

Referring to the drawing, Figure 1 is a side view of tuting myinvention, showing the burr-wheel about to bring the thread up into thebeard. Figure 2 shows the thread at the top of the needle, and thelander about to carry the cloth with its completed loops upwardly;thedotted circle representing a possible position of the thread afterdisengagement from the burr-wheel.

Figure 3 shows a loop of the cloth over' the beard of the needle, thepresser in engagement with the needle, and the cast-01f in engagementwiththe thread at the topof the needle.

Figure 1 is a sectional plan of Figure 3 along the line t4:, showing thecontacting position of presser and needle.

Figure 5 shows a loop being carried upwardly over the needle after thepresser is disengaged.

Figure 6 illustrates the format-ion of a new stitch at the top of theneedle, and shows the completed loop sliding downwardly over the stem ofthe needle.

In the drawing, the needle consists of the stem 10 and the beard 11coextensive with said stem'and joined thereto at the juncture or topbend 12. The stem contains the groove 13 facing the beard and adapted toreceive the extremity 14 thereof when the beard is yieldably moved theneedle constiinwardly by the action of. the presser 15. The beard is ofundulating contour, having two convexly curved portions or arcuatebulges 16 and 17.

The presser" is actuated by external mechanism so as to beintermittently brought into engagement with the recessed portion 18positioned between thetwo said bulges 16 and 17, thereby producing,against the springac-- tion of the needle, a closing of the opening 19by the contacting of the extremity 14 with the inner wall of the groove13. When this occurs, the inside surface 20 of the saidlrecessed portion18 contacts with the stem 10,

and the inwardly projecting portion 21 of the beard is in closeproximity to said stem.

The burr-wheel 22, rotatable on an inclined axis, carries the thread 23upwardly through opening 19, into the beard and up to the top of theneedle. At this point the cast-off 24, with blades positioned betweenasection of adjacent needles around the cylinder, pulls the portions ofthread between each needle upwardly, to equalize the amount of threadtherebetween. The loop 25, which had been completed during the previousstep'and which now forms a part of the cloth, is carried upwardly by thelander 26, the presser 15 closing I the opening 19 to permit the saidloop to pass upwardly over the beard, and then move ing out ofengagement with the beard to per? mit the loop 25 to continue upwardly(see Figure 5) until it engages the thread 23 at the top of the needle(see Figure 6) to form a new stitch. Thereafter, the cloth with the newstitch 23A is forced down to the bottom level of the needle, to permitthe beginning of anew cycle. I Y a There is generally an up and downplay of the cylinder due to the upward tension of the cloth and thecounter effect of gravity. This condition, together with the fact thatthe presser is itself subject to a slight play, produces, in the oldform of needle having a beard with a single convex bulge thereon, acontacting at a number of points on the beard, resulting in theformation of numerous dents therein, and a consequent roughening of thesurface of the beard. As the thread passes over this dented androughened surface, it becomes abraded, roughened and weakened, and isfrequently caused to break, particularly in view of the fact that thethread is in tension when passing over the crest which is the remotestpart of the beard with respect to the stem. Even if the thread does notactually break, the resulting cloth is rough in texture. This conditionis aggravated due to the fact that the dents that are formed are fro--quently relatively heavy, because the presser always engages the convexportion of the board, resulting in sharp line contact of presser andneedle.

In my invention, however, this situation cannot exist, as the recesses18 of adjacent needles form a trough which serves as a guide in settingthe presser, holds it in a constant and unvarying position with respectto the needles, andprevents contactingat any point other than at therecess 18 of each needle.

Hence any dents that may be formed will be within said recess, and arerelatively small,

as theconcave contacting surface of the beard at 18- is not sharply cutby a presser with rounded edges. As the thread moves upwardly over the.heard, it is not in tension -:while passing over the recess 18, due tothe relative nearness of the said recess to the stem,.so that noharmwill be done to the thread by a dented surface within recess 18,- as a"result of which the cloth produced will be of smooth and even texture.

beard" and; stem at the top of the needle be comes: correspondinglyincreased; sot-hat in order toeflect a complete-closing of the beard,there is'a relatively great. bending movement at the pivotal point ofsaid. juncture. Con- 'tinuous use causes this large movement to affectthe resiliency of the needle, impair'its spring action, and cause whatis generally known as a sleepy needle. Besides, this relatively greatbending movement often causes the needle to break at said juncture.

In my design, there is less movementat the juncture 12 than at thecorresponding j'unctureof the oldform of needle referred to, due to thefact that after point 20 contacts with the stem, it'becomes the pivotalpoint of the beard, there being no movement whatso- 7 ever'above-this-point. Hence, with less bend: ing at'the ]uncture 12, theactive life of the needle is correspondingly increased;

There is also a loss of resiliency in the said old form of needle due tothe fact that the continuousaction of the presser against the beard,together with the relatively great movement at the juncture of beard andstem causesa heating upof this point; whereas in the needle constitutingmy invention, this heating eifect is considerably reduced by thecomparatively smaller bending movement, and by the short circuiting ofthe heat of friction to the stem through point 20.

In order to prevent a dropping downof the thread, in the old form ofneedle, after it is released by the burr-wheel, considerable pressuremust frequently be exerted against the beardto keep the thread inspacebetweenthe upper part of the beard and the stem. Such excessive pressureflattens the beard at its point' of contact with the presser,perinanently impairing its effectiveness. This does not occur in the newneedle herein described, asthe point 20 contacts with the stem underslight pressure, and when in its contacting position, prevents thethread from falling down beyond this point without the application ofany more pressure. Besides, as the pressure is applied in the concaveportion of the recess 18, there can be no possibility whatsoever offlattening the beard.

It will be noticed that the upper portion of the beard recedes inwardlyfrom the juncture 12- downwardly to the point 21 which isgenerallysufliciently close to the stem to prevent the thread fromfalling down to create a drop stitch. Should the thread drop beyond 21,it cannot possibly go below point 20 which is always in contact with thestem when actuated by the presser. Even when the presser is notcontacting with the beard and there is a space between point 20and-thestem, the thread 23 is frequently held in place,.by centrifugal force,against the inner surface of the beard above point 20 (see Figure 2),and thereby prevented from dropping down until the'cast-oif begins topull it upwardly. Inthe old form of needle, there is no impediment tocontinued downward movement-of the thread, so that not only are dropstitches formed, but due to the different degrees of drop of the thread,resulting from variations of pressure of presser against beard, therewill be formed different lengths of thread for successive stitches,resulting in uneven courses. This condition is aggravated by the factthat in the old'form of needle herein referred to, the presser contactswith the heard I at different. points, increasing the chance of gettingunevenly spaced courses. The uniin the old form of needle, before thecast-oif H begins to act thereupon, results in an inequallty of thethread between each needle, there being a shortage of thread inoneplace, and

asurplusage of thread in the other place. The

cast-off 24, which pulls upwardly with a tendency to equalize the loops,will pull the thread slidingly through the open needles, so that ifthere is a knot on the thread, it may be caused to break. This conditionis overcome in my design of needle, where the variation in the drop ofthe thread is reduced to a min-. imum by the means employed to limit thedrop to a given point in the needle.

It will be further noted that the needle is so designed that theupwardly moving loop 2-5, after loosely passing over recess 18, isstretched back into shape and to its full length upon passing over thecrest of bulge 17 ,and as the remaining distance of travel is relativelyshort, it maintains its shape untilit engages the thread 23 to forma newstitch. This results in the production of a fabric of uniformly spacedstitches with a smooth texture.

As previously explained, the opening 19 should be made as great aspossible so as to permit the entry of the thread therethrough and allowslugs to pass upwardly without catching at the end of the beard. In theold form of needle, in order to provide a large opening, the entirebeard must be moved out wardly, as the pivotal point is at the top,thereby creating the opportunity for the formation of drop stitches, asalready explained. In my form of needle, however, the pivotal point isat 20, so that the portion of the beard below this point can be movedoutwardly a sufficient amount to permit the extremity 14c to clear anyupwardly moving thread, without in any way impairing the effectivenessof the needle in keeping the thread from slipping down.

It frequently happens that when the presser engages the needle, there isa tendency to force the heard over to one side, so that the extremitythereof does not engage the stem to close the opening between stem andbeard, but slips past the stem. to leave an opening 4 into which theupwardly moving loop is carried, creating a tuck stitch. This isparticularly true in the old form of needle, where the distance of thecontacting portion of the beard from the stem is relatively great, sothat a side thrust of the presser can easily cause a twisting of thebeard and the failure of the beard to close. However, with thecontacting portion at the recess 18, which is comparatively near to thestem, the tendency of the beard to twist over to one side is materiallyreduced, thereby always insuring a positive engagement of extremity 14with groove 13, and eliminating one of the causes of tuck stitches.

It is also a common occurence for the pressor to slip upwardly on theconvex surface of the beard, due to the play generally present in thepresser and its holding means, so that the beard fails to closecompletely when actuated by the presser, thereby causing a 1. In aspring knitting needle of the class described, a stem and a. beardconnected therewith, said beard having a recessed portion adapted forengagement with a suitably positioned presser.

2. In a spring knitting needle of the class described, a stem and abeard coextensive therewith and substantially parallel thereto, saidbeard being of undulating contour and having arecessed portion thereonadapted for engagement with a suitably positioned presser. Y

. 3. In a, spring knitting needle of the class described, a-stem and abeard joined therewith and substantially parallel thereto, the upperportion of said beard receding downwardly aridinwardly from the junctureof said stem and beard in such manner that the innermost point of saidportion is sufficiently close to said stem to hold a thread positionedbetween the stem-and beard against downward movement.

4. In a spring knitting needle of the class described, a stem and abeard coextensive therewith, said beard having a recessed portionadapted for engagement with a suitably positioned presser, the innermostsurface of said recessed portion being normallyout of engagement withsaid stem, and in contact therewith when the beard is actuated by thepresser.

5. In a spring knitting needle of the class described, a stem and abeard coextensive therewith 1 and substantially parallel thereto, saidbeard having there-on two arcuate-bulges and a recessed portiontherebetween adapted for engagement with a suitably positioned presser.

6. In a spring knitting needle of the class described, a stem and abeard coextensive therewith and substantially parallel thereto, saidbeard having thereon two inwardly projecting portions, the upper of saidportions being sufficiently close to said stem to form a space of awidth less than a thread of predetermined diameter, and the lower ofsaid portions being normally out of engagement with said stem and in'contact therewith when the heard is actuated by a suitably positionedpresser. v

7. A spring knitting needle of the class described comprising a stemanda beard coextensive therewith and substantially parallel thereto,said beard having a plurality of undulations thereon the inwardlyprojectme I (XOI

ingi'portions of which are adapted to hold athread' positioned betweensaid stem and heard against downward movement, the outwardly projectingportions of which are adaoted for en a ement with the 100 of an upwardlytraveling stitch, and one of the recesses of which is adapted forengagement with a suitably positioned pr-esser, the extremity of saidbeard being adapted to contact with the stem when the beard is actuatedby said presser.

8. In a spring knitting needle of the class described, a stem and abeard coextensive therewith and substantially parallel thereto, saidbeard having thereon'means to hold a thread positioned between said stemand heard against downward movement, and a recessed portion relativelyclose to said stem and adapted for engagement with a suitably positionedpresser.

9. In a spring knitting'needle of the class described, a stem and abeard coextensive therewith and substantially parallel thereto, saidbeard containing an outwardly projecting portion below the juncture ofsaid stem and beard, and sufiiciently removed from the stem to hold theloop of an upwardly traveling stitch in tension.

10. A spring knitting needle of the class described, comprising a stemand a beard joined therewith and substantially parallel thereto, saidbeard being of undulating contour and having thereon two convexly curvedportions, a recessed portion therebetween, an inwardly projectingportion between the juncture of the stem andbeard and the upper of saidcurved portions, said beard having a free extremity adaptableforcontactingwith said stem.

11'. A. spring knitting needle of the class described, comprising astem, a beardjoined' thereto at the top of said stem and substantiallyparallel thereto; said beard containing two arcuate bulges, a recessedportion therebetween the innermost surface of which is adapted tocontact with said stem when the heard is actuated by a suitablypositioned presser, the outermost point of the up er of said bulgesbeing spaced from the stem a distance substantially equal to thepredetermined length of an upwardly moving stitch; said beard having afree extremity adaptable for contacting with said stem when actuated bysaid presser.

12. 'A spring knitting needle of the class described, comprising a stemand a beard coextensive therewith and substantially parallel thereto;said beard being adapted for operative engagement with a suitablypositioned presser; and guiding means on said heard for effectinglongitudinal adjustment of said presser with respect to said needle.

13'; A spring knitting needle adapted for engagement with a suitablypositioned presser, comprising a stem and a beard connected therewith;said beard containing an indented portion for guiding the: positioningof said presser with respectto said needle and for receiving the.contacting portion of said presser.

14. A spring knittingneedle of the class described, comprising a stemand a beard In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

BERNARD HERTANQ

